Mundus

Mundus is the primary antagonist of the first Devil May Cry, and his defeat at the hands of Sparda two millennia ago sets the scene for the series. He is the ruler of the Underworld and was once Sparda's arch-rival.

Description
When Dante arrives on Mallet Island, Mundus is first seen in his dormant form: a marble statue of a three-eyed, angelic youth with long hair. The statue is located in the hall of the castle, however, Dante does not recognize it as the Demon Emperor, referring to it simply as "a statue of a god that castellans worshipped". Later, the statue disappeared from the main hall, as Mundus moved to his lair in the Underworld. When Dante finally encounters Mundus, he is able to attack him using powerful magic while still being in this dormant form. He then transforms into his real form to battle Dante.

Mundus's appearance when he battles Dante is that of a gigantic living statue of an old, bearded angel with a big hole in his chest, where an eye-like core is located in his true form. During his final battle with Dante, the statue breaks away, revealing a grotesque, writhing mass of living tissue, with three eyeballs and hundreds of hands coming out of it.

Also, Mundus often appears as three glowing orbs (eyes) arcing with energy. He is seen this way while communicating with Griffon, Trish, and before battling Vergil.

Personality
Mundus is depicted as the epitome of evil within the Devil May Cry universe. He has no loyalty or compassion for his minions, ruthlessly killing one of his own generals, Griffon, after he failed to defeat Dante and pleaded for his master's aid, or even use Trish as a bargaining chip over Dante to ensure an easy victory, which could be seen as cowardly. Like most other demons in the series, Mundus has a low opinion on humans, even going so far as to wonder if Dante's human heritage had weakened his father's blood.

Though he hates Sparda, he did note he could see the same 'light' from Sparda's eyes in Dante's, which could indicate a measure of respect he once held for his greatest general, though this could also simply be a fallback reference as to how both Phantom and Griffon saw Sparda within Dante. Mundus is also very driven by his goals, setting servant after servant to destroy Dante before finally taking the fight to the devil hunter himself. And even after losing again, he still forced a smaller Hellgate open in a bid for vengeance on Dante.

Before Devil May Cry 3
Two millennia ago, the Devil Prince Mundus was born into the depths of the Demon World as it snowed in the Human World, and quickly rose to power. After building a great army he slew the previous Demon King and took the title for himself. He planned to lead an assault on the Human World, as he wished to conquer it and rule both the lower and upper realms, but Sparda, a powerful demon knight, awoke to justice, leading him to single-handedly defeat both Mundus and his armies, and seal the main gate within the Underworld. In response, Mundus planned revenge against Sparda's family. His demons attacked and killed Eva, Sparda's wife and Dante and Vergil's mother.

Devil May Cry 3
At the end of Devil May Cry 3 in the secret ending, as Sparda's son Vergil found himself trapped in the Demon World, he comes upon Mundus, who glares down on him silently with his triple eyed avatar. Vergil challenges him in battle, though this battle is never seen. In his weakened state, he is defeated, and transformed into Nelo Angelo, leading into the events of Devil May Cry.

Devil May Cry
In Devil May Cry, Mundus attempts to escape into the Human World by opening a gate on Mallet Island. At the same time, he uses Trish to manipulate Sparda's other son, Dante, into coming to the island so that he can be killed. For much of the game, Mundus remains dormant within the statue of his younger form in the main hall of the castle, with Dante writing the statue off as nothing more than a depiction of the inhabitants god.

He first appears after the third battle with Griffon, ruthlessly executing his fallen general after he pleads to Mundus to be healed and strengthened to defeat Dante. Mundus is not seen again until Nelo Angelo's ultimate defeat, commenting to Trish that Vergil had fallen and saying she knew what she had to do. While Trish does ultimately lure Dante into a trap to battle Nightmare, this fails and Mundus appears, threatening Trish with the consequences of her failure.

When Dante finally arrives in Mundus' lair, a chapel like area, and sees the Devil Emperor sitting on his throne, musing on the irony of again facing a Sparda, with Dante retorting the irony of Mundus' defeat at his hands. Mundus however has one last card to play: The captured Trish. Playing on Dante's feelings for Trish, Mundus ruthlessly impales Dante with three beams of red energy, taunting Dante's weakness. Mundus prepares to deal the final blow when Trish intervenes, seemingly sacrifcing herself for Dante.

Annoyed with his creation's 'behavior' Mundus again attempts to destroy Dante, but the young devil hunter deflects the blast and demands Mundus show himself. Deciding to honor Dante's words, Mundus sheds his marble like form, revealing his aged, angelic body and then transports himself and Dante to his pocket dimension. There, he comments on how he now sees the light of Sparda's eyes within Dante's own. When Dante demands to know why Mundus used his mother's face, Mundus calls her a 'worthless being' and suggests to Dante he could make as many as he wanted. Dante demands silence and this sparks the final battle between the two, with Mundus flying off into the darkness and Dante assuming his father's form via Devil Trigger.

Dante succeeds in injuring Mundus but himself is knocked down into the pit of lava below, Mundus following. Mundus attempts to overwhelm Dante with his raw power but Dante overcomes him after a lengthy battle, and Mundus painfully takes to the skies, screaming as his wings fall away and his pocket dimension fades away, seemingly taking Mundus with it.

However, the prince of darkness returns as Mallet Island begins to collapse, literally tearing open a much smaller Hell Gate in the sewers, directly in front of Dante. The grieviously wounded Mundus vowed Dante would not leave, and Dante decided to stand his ground, swearing the island would become Mundus own burial ground. Though his powers had been greatly weakened, and Dante was able to chip away at his body, exposing his hideous true form, Mundus only mocked Dante's efforts, calling his powers weak in the Human World.

But just then, Trish returned and gave Dante her powers, supercharging the devil hunter who blasted Mundus with his overpowered handguns, sending the Prince of Darkness screaming back into the Underworld. As he was forced to return to the demon world, Mundus vowed to Dante he would return and rule the Human World.

Devil May Cry 2
In the opening cutscene of Devil May Cry 2, a nearly exact copy of the statue of Mundus (his younger, angelic form) is briefly shown as the narration recounts a portion of the tale of Sparda.

Viewtiful Joe
In Viewtiful Joe, Mundus convinces Captain Blue to get revenge on Dante and Trish, but the plan ultimately fails due to Eva. He makes a return appearance in Red Hot Rumble alongside Sparda and Vergil.

Powers and Abilities
Mundus is Dante's most powerful adversary. Hailed as the Prince of Darkness and Devil Emperor, Mundus has the power to back up these titles. As the ruler of the Demon World, Mundus has absolute control over almost all lesser demons within his domain. Trish, Blades, Assaults, and Frosts were created by Mundus himself, displaying his powers of creation. He has a form of mind control which allows him to direct Vergil's actions after defeating him, possibly possession, even enhancing Vergil's powers while limiting his original fighting style. He is also aware of Vergil's defeat moments after it had occurred. During his battle with Dante, Mundus is shown to create his own pocket dimension of infinite darkness and clouds, with a pool of lava below to serve as the final battlegrounds.

His powers during the actual battle itself are vast and terrifying. He can conjure streams of lightning, fire dozens of red energy spears, summon orbs with the abilities of creating barriers and firing small projectiles, and even rain meteors of pure energy down on Dante, a barrage of said meteors being powerful enough to revert Dante, with his father's power manifesting through Devil Trigger, to human form. It is only because he wielded Sparda's power during the battle that Dante was able to survive at all. Mundus posseses sufficient strength, most likely due to his massive size, to literally swat a Sparda enhanced Dante down. Mundus is also incredibly resilient, surviving his first battle with Sparda with only a massive wound to show for it, surviving his battle with Dante while he wielded his father's power coupled with his own, and later literally tear his way from the Demon World after his battle with Dante, and despite his wounded state he is able to boast and ignore Dante's attacks, even going so far as to call him weak.

Background
The Mundus Cereris was a pit in Roman mythology which contained an entrance to Hades, the underworld, which was ruled by Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld; Mundus is identified as Pluto twice within Devil May Cry. The stone covering the pit, known as the lapis manalis, would be removed three times a year, and when it was removed it was believed that the spirits of the blessed dead would commune with the living.

Mundus's three eyes are likely a reference to Satan, who is portrayed with three faces in Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. Satan is also considered the "Prince of This World" and the "Prince of Darkness", both of which are titles that Mundus shares with him. Mundus's pseudo-angelic appearance also coincides with Satan's traditional role as a fallen angel within the Christian faith.

Trivia

 * During the fight with Berial, a sign reading the name "Mundus Vivendi" (Mundus likely refers to the boss from first game, Latin "vivendi" commonly translates to "of living" or "lifestyle") can be seen briefly twice, once before falling from its post, and again when it is shown on the ground.
 * Mundus is mentioned by Ghost Rider in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Before the battle between Trish, he will say "I eat demons like Mundus for breakfast.". Also, Phoenix (Jean Grey) after defeating Vergil will say "Perhaps if I'm not too busy, I'll take care of Mundus, too." Dormammu also says to Dante that he should stick to fighting Mundus, implying not only is Dante not strong enough to defeat him, but that Dormammu is more powerful than Mundus.
 * From the BradyGames strategy guide: "Mundus is actually a Latin term refering to the 'vile world' or the 'imagined universe.' The world is also included in the dream-philosophy works of Carl Jung. Therefore, it is not difficult to see how the god of the evil Underworld would have such an allegorical name."